Welcome to Ethics Consult -- an opportunity to discuss, debate (respectfully), and learn together. We present an ethical dilemma in patient care; you vote on your decision in the case. Next week, we'll reveal how you all made the call. And stay tuned -- Gregory Dolin, MD, JD, will weigh in next week with an ethical framework to help you learn and prepare.
Tragedy struck a newly engaged couple in their mid-30s when the man was killed in a bicycle accident.
He had instructions to donate his organs. However, before his organs were removed, his fiancee requested that doctors retrieve the dead man's sperm for in vitro fertilization. She claimed that they were planning on starting a family, and his wishes were to have two children after they were married. The dead man's only living relative, his uncle, objected to posthumous sperm procurement, citing religious reasons.
The decision had to be made quickly, so the fiancee sought an emergency court order.
Based on the case of .
See the results and what an ethics expert has to say.
, is associate professor of law and co-director, Center for Medicine and Law at the University of Baltimore, where he also studies biopharmaceutical patent law. His work includes a number of scholarly articles, presentations, amicus briefs, and congressional testimony.
And check out some of our past Ethics Consult cases: Let Suicidal Cancer Patient Be Duped Into Taking Meds?, Hiding Dx From Elderly Cancer Patient? MD/JD Bangs the Gavel, and Euthanize Resistant Dementia Patient?